› added 8 years ago

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TIL that grasshoppers and locusts are the same insect. Harmless grasshoppers can undergo hormonal changes which transform them into the swarming monstrosities.

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

R54bQ TIL that US Supreme Court IP Cases has doubled in 30 years; patent trolls companies exploit the system by litigating everyone and anyone in collusion with Big Media, costing $29 Billion annually, stifling innovation and equality.
v8XR TIL that the French spoken words in the Beyonce song “Partition” are almost word-for-word taken from a conversation in the French dub version of the film “The Big Lebowski”
O1Z4 TIL Amsterdam pays alcoholics in beer. 2 cans at the start of the day, 2 at lunch, and 1 or 2 at the end. They also get half a packet of rolling tobacco, lunch, & and €10. There is a long waiting list to work for this program. Canada inspired this program with their Help the Heroin addicts programs.
Y70WW TIL Sumo wrestlers throw salt before a match to purify and sanitize the ring, how they throw is up to them.
kJ0Ke TIL: In the 1864 war between Uruguay and Brazil, a Uruguayan ship, out of cannonballs, loaded their cannons with stale Dutch cheese and successfully shattered the main mast of a Brazilian ship, causing the admiral to retreat.